Winnipeg Jets (1972–96)

This article is about the first NHL team known as the Winnipeg Jets. For the current NHL team with the same name, see Winnipeg Jets. For the former Western Hockey League team, see Winnipeg Monarchs (WHL).

The Jets' first signing was Norm Beaudin ("the Original Jet") and the first major signing was Bobby Hull. Hull's acquisition, partially financed by the rest of the WHA's teams, gave the league instant credibility and paved the way for other NHL stars to bolt to the upstart league.

The Jets were further noteworthy in hockey history for being the first North American club seriously to explore Europe as a source of hockey talent. Winnipeg's fortunes were bolstered by acquisitions such as Swedish forwards Anders Hedberg and Ulf Nilsson, who starred with Hull on the WHA's most famous and successful forward line (nicknamed "the Hot Line"), and defencemanLars-Erik Sjoberg, who would serve as the team's captain and win accolades as the WHA's best defenceman. Behind these players and other European stars such as Willy Lindstrom, Kent Nilsson, Veli-Pekka Ketola, leavened by players such as Peter Sullivan, Norm Beaudin and goaltender Joe Daley, the Jets were the most successful team in the short-lived WHA. The team won the Avco World Trophy three times, including in the league's final season against Wayne Gretzky and the Edmonton Oilers. The Jets made the finals five of the WHA's seven seasons.

Another notable accomplishment was the Jets' 5–3 victory over the Soviet National team on January 5, 1978.[3]

In the WHA's last season, Kent Nilsson had 107 points, while Morris Lukowich had 65 goals, and Peter Sullivan had 46 goals and 86 points. The Jets made it to the Avco Cup and Gary Smith gave up the last goal in WHA history to Dave Semenko in a 7–3 Jets win.[4]

Winnipeg's second logo, introduced in 1973 and used when it entered the NHL in 1979 until 1990

By 1979, the vast majority of the WHA's teams had folded, but the Jets were still going strong and they were absorbed into the NHL along with the Nordiques, Oilers and Hartford Whalers. They had to pay a high price for a berth in the more established league, however. They had to give up three of their top six scorers – the core of the last WHA champion – in a reclamation draft. They were also forced to draft 18th out of 21 teams. In the draft, they opted to protect defenceman Scott Campbell, who had shown a good deal of promise in the last WHA season. However, Campbell suffered from chronic asthma that was only exacerbated by Winnipeg's frigid weather. The asthma drove him out of the league entirely by 1982.

With a decimated roster, the Jets finished dead last in the league for the next two seasons, including a horrendous nine-win season in 1980–81 that still ranks as the worst in Jets/Coyotes history. This stands in marked contrast to the other 1979 Avco Cup finalist, the Oilers, who became one of the most successful teams during the 1980s.

Led by Hawerchuk, Steen, Babych and Carlyle, the Jets returned to respectability fairly quickly, and made the playoffs 11 times in the next 15 years. However, regular-season success did not transfer over into the playoffs. This was because Winnipeg played in the same division as the Oilers and Calgary Flames – by some accounts, the two best teams in the league during the second half of the 1980s. Due to the way the playoffs were structured at the time, the Jets were all but assured of having to beat either the Oilers or the Flames (or both) to get to the Campbell Conference Finals. For example, in 1984–85, they finished with the fourth-best record in the entire league (behind only Philadelphia, Edmonton and Washington). They also notched 96 points, which would remain the franchise's best as an NHL team until the 2009–10 Coyotes racked up the franchise's second 100-point season (and first as an NHL team). While they managed to dispatch the Flames in four games in the best-of-five division semi-final, they were swept by the eventual Stanley Cup champion Oilers in the division final. In fact, Winnipeg and Edmonton played each other in the playoffs six times between 1983 and 1990. The Oilers not only won every series, but held the Jets to only four total victories. Five of those times (1984, 1985, 1987, 1988, and 1990), the Oilers went on to win the Stanley Cup. The Jets would win only one other playoff series, in 1987 (defeating Calgary in the division semi-final before losing to Edmonton in the division final).

As the NHL expanded in the United States and free agency rules were liberalized, operating costs and salaries grew rapidly. This development hit the league's Canadian teams particularly hard. Moreover, the revised free agency rules gave players the leverage to demand being paid in U.S. dollar. Until about the early 1990s, Canadian teams were able to pay most of their players in Canadian dollars. However, since the Canadian teams still collected most of their revenue in Canadian dollars, having to pay players in U.S. dollars proved to be a serious drain on finances given the declining value of the Canadian dollar. By 1996, the exchange rate was $1.40 Canadian for each American dollar. Winnipeg felt the pinch especially hard as it was the league's second-smallest market (and became the smallest market after the Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver as the Colorado Avalanche in 1995). Despite a loyal fan following, serious doubts were raised about whether Winnipeg could support an NHL team in this new environment. Additionally, their home arena, Winnipeg Arena, was an aging building with no luxury suites and seating with obstructed views.

During their history, the Jets retired two numbers: Bobby Hull's #9 and Thomas Steen's #25. Both numbers hang in the Coyotes' current home, Gila River Arena, in the Jets' old blue-red-white colour scheme. Dale Hawerchuk's No. 10 was added in 2006, in the Coyotes' current sand-red-black scheme. Another tradition that was retained when the franchise moved to Phoenix was the "white-out", in which fans wore all white to home playoff games. The franchise finally won a playoff series in 2012, their first in 25 years, en route to reaching the Conference Finals for the first time where they were defeated by the eventual champions Los Angeles Kings. Hull's No. 9 jersey was temporarily "un-retired" with the acquisition of his son Brett by the Coyotes. Brett wore his father's famous jersey until his own retirement on October 15, 2005, subsequent to which the number was re-retired.

Dean Kennedy

When the Phoenix Coyotes declared bankruptcy, True North Sports and Entertainment made two bids with the intent of returning the franchise to Winnipeg. True North also considered buying the Nashville Predators, likely to move it to Winnipeg.[7][8][9] These bids were turned down, as the league reached an agreement to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix, so True North turned its attention to the financially struggling Atlanta Thrashers, moving it to Winnipeg to become the second incarnation of the Jets (see below).[10][11]

Current Coyotes team captain Shane Doan, who was drafted seventh overall by the Jets prior to their last season in Winnipeg and played his rookie season in Winnipeg, is the only player from the original Jets to still be active in the NHL as of the 2015–16 season. Doan has only played for the Coyotes since the team commenced play in Arizona. The only other former Jet still active in professional hockey is Deron Quint, who is currently playing in the KHL in Russia.

The Winnipeg White Out is a hockey tradition that dates back to 1987 when fans were asked to wear white clothing to home playoff games, creating a very intimidating effect and atmosphere. It was created as a response to the "C of Red" created by fans of the Calgary Flames, whom the home-town Jets were facing in the first round of the 1987 Stanley Cup Playoffs.[12] The Jets eliminated the Flames in six games, and fans wore white for every home playoff game thereafter. Fans dubbed it the "White Out." Marketing for the team during the playoff referred to the "charge of the white brigade." Fans of the AHL franchise Manitoba Moose also continued this tradition when the team briefly relocated to St. John's, Newfoundland, as the St. John's IceCaps, as did fans of the continuing Jets/Coyotes franchise in Phoenix, and are referred to as the "IceCap's White Out"[13] and "Coyotes White Out,"[14] respectively. When the Thrashers moved to Winnipeg as the second incarnation of the Jets, they brought back the White Out tradition for the 2015 playoffs.

The Winnipeg Jets retired two numbers in their history. When the Jets relocated to Arizona, the banners of these players also made the move, and these numbers remain retired with the Arizona Coyotes, now in Coyotes' colors. After the move to Arizona, number 10 was retired in honor of Dale Hawerchuk, number 7 was retired for Keith Tkachuk, and number 27 was retired for Teppo Numminen.